Page 4427 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 30 October 2018
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And our community seeks a continued decline in homelessness, both through our own efforts and through advocacy on a national level.
The strategy guides the government’s continued work to reduce homelessness and improve affordability for people in all housing contexts—from getting people into safe and secure shelter to finding an affordable house to buy or rent. The ACT strategy does so through five key policy goals: one, an equitable, diverse and sustainable supply of housing for the ACT community; two, reducing homelessness; three, strengthening social housing assistance; four, increasing affordable rental housing; and five, increasing affordable home ownership.
These goals will be achieved with a major public investment, guided by community voices, focused on equity and fairness. This government knows that, more than anything else, housing fulfils the most basic of human needs—the need for shelter—and providing this grounds the human dignity and wellbeing of a household.
The ACT has experienced remarkable economic prosperity and livability. It is a place people want to be, and this is showing in the city’s rapid growth towards 500,000 residents by 2030. Our growth is bringing a new set of challenges through pressure on land availability, infrastructure and public open space. All these new residents mean an increasing need for housing, but it is not a case of any house, anywhere. Canberrans need a better supply of the right type of housing in the right locations.
Throughout the city, Canberrans need a variety of low, medium and high density housing options supporting a variety of household configurations and personal needs which will build on the social sustainability and inclusiveness that we are all so proud of. They also need environmentally sustainable housing, aligned with key infrastructure and access to jobs, education, services and community. They need this because of both social and cost of living factors and also because we have an obligation to respond to a changing climate.
The ACT housing strategy reinforces the important role of government in providing land and developing opportunities. The government has programmed 17,000 sites for release over the coming four years, providing an important opportunity to ensure an equitable, diverse and sustainable housing supply.
The government has renewed its commitment to release land that exceeds demand through an appropriate mix of greenfield and urban renewal locations. Importantly, more land will be set aside for affordable community and public housing, with 15 per cent of all government land release—some 550 dwellings in the current financial year—set aside for these purposes. This builds on the previous policy, where the requirement only applied to greenfield development. And, again, it reflects the consistent view of those involved in developing the strategy that we need to preserve one of the great strengths of this city—the diversity of people and wealth across our suburbs.
The strategy also continues our work exploring new ways to deliver diverse and creative housing options. We will remain true to our underlying priority of supporting
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